Transportable liquid produced from natural gas

Abstract

A system and a method for converting Natural Gas (NG) to high energy transportable liquid (such as gasoline) are disclosed. A semiconductor UV-source is used for initiate a photo lytic reaction between methane molecules and photons having energy equal or bigger than the energy of dissociation of the C—H bond in methane. The formed radicals are further react to produce higher molecular weight hydrocarbons, while hydrogen gas is separates from the reaction mixture in order to avoid reverse reactions.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for the conversion of methane included in natural gas into high-energy room temperature liquids, comprising the steps of:
 a) introducing methane, included in natural gas, into a closed volume; 
 b) irradiating the methane included in the natural gas by at least one semiconductor UV radiation source, selected from an LED (Light Emitting Diode) or a LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation), wherein said radiation contains photons with a wavelength of 272.5 nm, in order to produce photochemical, radical and molecular collision chemical reactions in order to obtain mixtures of chemical liquid products and chemical gaseous products that include, inter alia, ethane, hydrogen, propane, butane isomers, pentane isomers, hexane isomers, heptane isomers, octane isomers, nonane isomers, and decane isomers; 
 c) collecting the hydrogen, that is separated from the mixture by buoyancy, or by a hydrogen selective membrane, or by a centrifugal gas separator, at the upper part of said closed volume wherein the collected hydrogen is then extracted from said closed volume through an outlet dedicated to the extraction of hydrogen; 
 d) optionally, using the separated hydrogen to produce electricity that activates at least one electricity consuming load that is used by the method's procedure; 
 e) collecting the liquid products, that condense at room temperature (RT), at the bottom of the closed volume; 
 f) extracting the collected liquids from said closed volume through an outlet dedicated to the extraction of liquid products; 
 g) repeating steps (b) to (f) on the remaining gaseous mixture in said closed volume; 
 h) adding methane included in the natural gas so as to maintain constant pressure within said closed volume; and 
 i) heating the UV sources, by a heating element, to avoid obscuration of the UV sources by the formation of thin polymer films. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1  wherein methane is introduced into the closed volume as room temperature natural gas, or as compressed natural gas, or as liquefied natural gas. 
     
     
       3. The method as described in  claim 1  where said closed volume is an inclined volume with an axis inclination angle relative to the horizon of between 0.5 degrees and 89.5 degrees. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein methane included in said natural gas, is photo-dissociated by irradiation with a UV radiation source, selected from a semiconductor LED or a semiconductor LASER, wherein the dissociation products of the photo-dissociation will be methyl and hydrogen radicals, and wherein these radicals will react with other methane molecules and eventually form large alkane molecules and hydrogen molecules. 
     
     
       5. The method as described in  claim 1 , wherein the formation of waxes is reduced by the continuous extraction of said condensed mixture of liquid products from said closed volume and by maintaining the temperature within said closed volume in an interval of temperatures that reduces the formation of waxes, that is, the boiling point of heptane isomers.